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I'm sure everyone is capable of musing and has done so before. Share some of your musings here. I am interested in reading your musings. This is not a discussion or debate thread. Do not tell others that their musings are wrong.

Here is mine to start:Most of the time people are not willing to make a concession when debating. Pride and arrogance may play a part, but I think it is mostly from differences in perception. Differences in perception make different opinions on the same issues. When people are making decisions, they usually rely on past experiences because it is expected that whatever worked in the past will continue to work in the future. When developing ideas, people will use their memories to consolidate their ideas and expand them. People will have different experiences and different memories which result in different ideas and worldviews. It is extremely hard, if not impossible, to understand concepts that cannot be represented by physical manifestations or qualities that derive from the combination of such physical manifestations. Intuition exists, but there reaches a point where not even intuition could help us understand such concepts. How do people describe color to a person that cannot see? How do people describe sound to a person that cannot hear? If they had already seen and recognized color or heard sounds before, then explaining such concepts would be easy. But what if they had never experienced it? Born as deaf or born as blind. How would they ever understand? Well, people would describe it in terms of what they can perceive. A blind person would have to experience colors by using their other senses. Red can be associated with hot and blue can be associated with cold. They can give a new definition of color by connecting what they already know. We cannot really understand until we have experienced it or know more about something. A person may be logically correct in his/her perception, but only because he/she is missing information. We cannot be completely certain about anything we know, because we do not know the extent of our intuition or if our intuition is even correct. Perhaps a person on stage can be recognized as dead by a person. The person's reaction would be much different if he/she did not realize that the dead person on stage is actually acting.

There is no objective reality. Only subjective reality exists because whatever information people can perceive is filtered by our senses. Our senses are not the most accurate, so our perception of the world is muddied. The concept of an ultimate reality does not exist because whatever "ultimate reality" that people come up with can only be correct with their version of reality. I am not advocating solipsism. I am instead saying that objective reality cannot be observed. If we knew as much as we could on the universe, we would find out that most of our previous conclusions were false. However, within the context of what we knew, the conclusions would be correct. Our logic is correct only if we assume that we know everything that is necessary to make the "correct" conclusion. If we didn't know everything that was necessary to make the "correct" conclusion, then people could only have wrong conclusions.

The world is somewhat irrational and would never be completely predicted in all scales. If the world could be predicted, it would mean that there is only one fixed model of the universe. Every aspect of the universe would be predetermined because no other possibilities exist. One implies the other. This means that whatever thoughts I have or whatever I am writing right now, I only do because it is a necessity. The universe makes it so that I must do the things that I do. Choice does not exist in this model of the world; whatever I experience was meant to be. Assuming that people have built a strong enough machine that can predict everything in the world, can it predict itself? Did it predict that it would predict what it would try to predict? It leads to an infinite cycle. I don't know if such a contraption could exist.

Unfortunately, nothing is certain and I can only hope to be more accurate.

Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:47 am

Seth

Moshpit Addict

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:32 amPosts: 5515Location: We outch hyah

Re: Musings

why do the priest, rabbi, and minister always walk into a bar? How come those jokes never take place in a restaurant or something?

_________________I think in Non-sequiturs

"Many a peacock hides his tail from every eye—and calls it his pride."-A dude that's smarter than me

Only kind of a jerk.

Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:12 am

44R0NM10

Former Mod of the Aura

Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:52 pmPosts: 4011Location: England

Re: Musings

Seth wrote:

why do the priest, rabbi, and minister always walk into a bar? How come those jokes never take place in a restaurant or something?

Wait, what? It's always an Englishman, Scotsman and Irishman (sometimes one is replaced by an Welshman)

We can't really say always in this case because the joke is apparently said differently in different regions.

Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:50 pm

Radio Blue Heart

Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:27 pmPosts: 2234Location: North Carolina

Re: Musings

The longer I live, the more I believe that troubles truly do come in threes.

_________________"I have known hardship and learned to aid the wretched."-Virgil

Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:54 pm

Wanderer

Re: Musings

What lead you to believe this?

Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:06 pm

Radio Blue Heart

Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:27 pmPosts: 2234Location: North Carolina

Re: Musings

Bad stuff keeps happening to me three at a time.

_________________"I have known hardship and learned to aid the wretched."-Virgil

Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:10 pm

Wanderer

Re: Musings

Hmm... I can't remember if that ever happened to me. Do you want to share any of your three misfortunes?

Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:16 pm

Radio Blue Heart

Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:27 pmPosts: 2234Location: North Carolina

Re: Musings

Monday: My rent was late because my direct deposit was delayed.

Wednesday: Had my confrontation with my unruly co-worker.

Today: My email got hacked and I had to spend $109 to correct the problem, and I have to go to the bank to make sure that my bank account is alright because I use that email to buy things off of Amazon.com.

Hopefully, this block of three troubles won't turn into four troubles. And, just maybe, things will turn around for me.

_________________"I have known hardship and learned to aid the wretched."-Virgil

Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:15 pm

Seth

Moshpit Addict

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:32 amPosts: 5515Location: We outch hyah

Re: Musings

I hate when people who listen to rap won't listen to a certain rapper or group because someone they like dissed them or had some kind of beef with them. I can't understand why anyone would care if their favorite bands like each other. I'm not going to change my musical tastes to mirror my favorite bands/artists. I don't see why people can't just think for themselves when it comes to music.

_________________I think in Non-sequiturs

"Many a peacock hides his tail from every eye—and calls it his pride."-A dude that's smarter than me

Only kind of a jerk.

Sat Oct 06, 2012 2:50 pm

Wanderer

Re: Musings

Humans adapt to their surroundings and circumstances. Our senses must have developed according to the surrounding world at that time. I wonder if people's senses long ago were slightly different from ours today. If we looked at the same object which we determine to be blue, was it darker long ago? If we heard the same sounds long ago, would it be different if I was born 200 years ago? I think our senses have developed and changes as time passed. In the 12th century, you would rarely hear any music. If you did hear music, it was of the same genre. Most sounds they heard were from people talking and things moving. Because they heard less sounds back then, perhaps their ability to hear soft sounds increased because they were so used to everything being quiet that even the smallest noises become dramatic. Maybe our ability to discern subtleties have decreased because we are constantly exposed to sound. Nowadays, sounds are louder and more music is heard frequently. Some people are putting headphones in their ears and listening to music wherever they go. I think this phenomenon is impacting people's senses across the globe. Maybe less in other areas, but the change is slowly coming.

Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:45 pm

Radio Blue Heart

Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:27 pmPosts: 2234Location: North Carolina

Re: Musings

This blew my mind. I gave me a lot to think about.

_________________"I have known hardship and learned to aid the wretched."-Virgil

Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:44 pm

Sleet

Bringing Foxy Back

Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 amPosts: 15809Location: Nephelokokkygia

Re: Musings

Just 'cause they look similarly doesn't really mean much. We already know enough about the universe to know there's no sort of dendritic activity happening.

It's still pretty mind blowing. It's probably just coincidence but sometimes it's good to have something to remind you how small and insignificant we are. Keeps things in perspective.

By insignificant, do you mean small? That is certainly true since this universe is bigger than we could possibly imagine, and all that we know about this universe, even though scientists do love to create unintelligible reports on all of what they think they know, is but a mere grain of sand in comparison to the sun (or, perhaps, the solar system). The subject of space is going to be an unending research topic we will never master no matter how many millions of years of research and exploration we embark on. That is assuming we ever leave this planet.

Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:00 pm

Seth

Moshpit Addict

Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:32 amPosts: 5515Location: We outch hyah

Re: Musings

MilesKingford wrote:

Seth wrote:

It's still pretty mind blowing. It's probably just coincidence but sometimes it's good to have something to remind you how small and insignificant we are. Keeps things in perspective.

By insignificant, do you mean small? That is certainly true since this universe is bigger than we could possibly imagine, and all that we know about this universe, even though scientists do love to create unintelligible reports on all of what they think they know, is but a mere grain of sand in comparison to the sun (or, perhaps, the solar system). The subject of space is going to be an unending research topic we will never master no matter how many millions of years of research and exploration we embark on. That is assuming we ever leave this planet.

Well I do mean it literally but it's also important (at least for me) to realize how little the planet or any individuals matter in "the big picture". Compared to the vastness of existence my problems seem rather silly and trivial to me. Keeping that in mind helps me stay sane and not take myself that seriously.

_________________I think in Non-sequiturs

"Many a peacock hides his tail from every eye—and calls it his pride."-A dude that's smarter than me

Only kind of a jerk.

Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:24 pm

Sleet

Bringing Foxy Back

Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 amPosts: 15809Location: Nephelokokkygia

Re: Musings

I like to think we matter quite a lot. Sure, we can't use a massive gravity to form galaxies, or send radioactive pulses throughout the universe, but we still matter. Who's to say the astronomical scale is important but a smaller one isn't?

I do think it's possible to find some kind of meaning in life. That doesn't change the fact that there is no cosmic significance to our existence. The universe and in most people's cases the world will not notice their living or their passing. That doesn't mean that life is pointless and we shouldn't strive for some small measure of satisfaction or purpose or whatever you want to call it. But to assume there is a greater over-arching purpose to life is frankly quite arrogant. What makes our speck (and the if the world is a speck on hte cosmic map we're a speck on a speck) special? I can understand how people could argue against it but for me coming at the issue from a secular existentialist perspective the search for greater meaning is useless to me. THere is no one objective thing I can point at and say "that's what I'm living for, that's the point of it all." We're just an unbelievably tiny part of a larger organism floating in space. It's important to remeber that and realize that the search for meaning and purpose is a personal one and not one with an objective answer. Some people are scared by this line of thinking, but personally I think it's quite freeing. What "matters" in life is completely up to the individual. We all have within us the ability to make ourselves whatever we want and make our lives serve whatever cause we choose because in the end that's all we can do. It's both wonderful and terrifying to me.I think that may have gotten a bit off topic but hey it is a musings thread

Please note: I am not trying to start a debate. I am not trying to attack anyone's beliefs and do not think they are any less valid than mine.

_________________I think in Non-sequiturs

"Many a peacock hides his tail from every eye—and calls it his pride."-A dude that's smarter than me

Only kind of a jerk.

Last edited by Seth on Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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